Sometimes I wonder if Peta and Freelee the Banana Girl exist solely for the excuse to be major jerks. Both these organizations/ personalities have acquired massive fame through bullying people into becoming vegan. Despite the fact that they both have strong ethical arguments against animal abuse due to our consumption of meat, these people are essentially the Jehovah Witnesses of the vegan community. And instead of constantly ringing your doorbell until you passively answer it, Peta and Freelee publicly shame individuals for eating meat and dairy products. For example, in order to promote their campaign, Peta threw a tofu pie at Anna Wintour for the promotion of fur in her magazine, and distributing “Un-Happy Meals” to children, featuring a knife-holding Ronald McDonald outside a McDonald’s Franchise.

In light of our advocacy campaign projects, I’ve decided to devote this blog to the crazy, horrific, and downright incorrect advocacy campaigns of both Peta and Freelee the Banana Girl.

Peta is notoriously known for their scantly-clad women in their “I’d rather go naked than wear fur” ad campaigns, while this ad depicts an overweight female in a tiny bikini. In my honest opinion, Peta has hit the nail on the head when it comes to objectifying women’s bodies and shaming the ones that don’t necessarily fit the mold of how a perfect woman should look. But that’s an argument for another day. Peta’s company is concerned with equal animal and human treatment, but this is a quality example of how Peta puts a vegan lifestyle before that of basic human decency towards their fellow humans. In a press release, Peta stated: “Anyone wishing to achieve a hot “beach bod” is reminded that studies show that vegetarians are, on average, about 10 to 20 pounds lighter than meat-eaters.” There are a lot of reasons people struggle with weight, and switching to a vegan-friendly lifestyle will not be able to fix every reason.

This is a quintessential example of how and advocacy campaign could potentially turn an individual away from an intended cause. One meat-eater slams Peta by saying “PETA, you have finally done it. You have made me change my mind about something. Congratulations. However, it won’t be to your liking. I’m going out right now get some Kobe Steak for dinner wearing my endangered species ocelot fur coat and if any one of your mink-releasing vegan followers dares to as much as sneer in my direction I’m making a hat out of their bony ass.” Although this statement is quite vulgar, it emphasizes the fact that attacking someones values without proper education will completely turn off a viewer from your intended message.

Freelee is known for advocating the infamous “Raw till 4” vegan diet, in which one only eats raw/ uncooked fruits and vegetables until 4pm and after, they load up on carbohydrates like pastas and potatoes. She credits this high carb, low fat vegan diet to her major weight loss and also the curing of her skin disease and diabetes. She is notorious for saying vulgar quotes like “people should go to jail for eating animal products,” “a thigh gap is healthy for all women,” and “fat people are the scum of the earth.” In addition to her clickbait titles and tasteless quotes, Freelee is also notorious for posting videos that single out famous celebrities and Youtubers. No matter how many videos she makes shaming the diet of Kim Kardashian or Shane Dawson of Youtube, she always acclaims that the “Raw Til 4” diet will change their lifestyle.

In this video Freelee calls out Youtuber Blndsundoll4mj, or Trisha Paytas, for “stuffing” her face with KFC. Although this isn’t the most healthy meal (or portion size, for that matter), Freelee is way out of line to make a video as fat-shaming as this one. Like many other women and men, Trisha is no stranger to eating disorders and telling someone to “go vegan” is not going to fix all their mental and/or physical problems. In response, Trisha has made videos of her eating a great deal of hamburgers and other animal products, tagging Freelee in the downbar. Again, this shows that “finger-pointing advocacy” is not the right way to campaign the vegan lifestyle.

The reason why most people hate vegans is because they’re constantly shoving it down people’s throats. There, I said it. The right way to advocate for the vegan lifestyle is to educate your friends, family, and community and let them do what they want with the information as they will. At the end of the day, you can’t fight hate with hate (could you please send this message to Donald Trump as well), and advocating the vegan lifestyle comes out of love not only for the animals and yourself, but for the world around you.

Lately, I’ve been avoiding the question “why don’t you eat cheese?” I’ve mostly been telling people that I’m highly allergic to dairy and eggs and will break out in a rash and high fever if I do. And usually most people would leave me alone. However, the rare times that I do mention I live a plant-based diet, people bombard me with a multitude of questions like “where do you get your protein?” or “what do you even eat?” and my favorite, “are you crazy?” Many people do joke that vegans eat rabbit food, twigs and leaves, and “nut paste,” ( In my defense, nut paste tastes good!) But I do understand the questions. Living in todays society, its hard to find something at a gas station or a fast food restaurant for vegans to eat. But I do believe that myself, along with my fellow vegans eat more than just twigs and leaves. To prove myself, I’ve gone along with a Youtube-type blog modeled after the “What I Eat In a Day” videos. So, here is what I ate today, along with pictures.

Breakfast:

Today I had a half a cup of oatmeal, which I heated up in the microwave. On top of it Isprinkled on one tablespoon of chia seeds, two tablespoons of flax seed, a lot of cinnamon, and one tablespoon of all-natural peanut butter. Yum! This is usually for the days that I have a little extra time in the morning. When I’m running late, I will usually have a piece of fruit (either an apple or banana) and a granola bar. My top picks for energy bars are Clif Bars, Lara Bars, or Nature Valley.

Snack:

I had a banana (typical vegan snack). Other snacks for me would be a bag of nuts (almonds, cashews, or pistachios) or a granola bar.

Lunch:

Today for lunch I went to West Commons on campus. I had a big green salad with mixed greens, tomatoes, shredded carrots, cucumbers, olives, and kidney beans. To top it off I had French dressing. I also ate vegetable pot pie (which was one of the best things I’ve eaten at a dining commons.) I also had chips and guacamole.

Snack #2:

About half a roll of Saltine Crackers.

Dinner:

For dinner I went to East Commons on campus. I got a big green salad just like I did at lunch: Spinach, green peppers, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, shredded carrots, and a bunch of chick peas. Again, I had French dressing. I also had a veggie burrito and sautéed brussle sprouts which are not pictured here because I was too excited to eat them.

Late night snack:

French fries from the Big O in East because these fries were sent from God himself.

This is typically what I eat in a normal day. On days where I feel like something more I’ll either go to places downtown such as Pita Cabana, Subway, Taco Bell, and Kiwi. My favorite snacks are Oreos (yes, they’re vegan), pretzels, sweet potato chips, hummus, and popcorn. I’m no where near the perfect vegan and I doubt a lot of people in college are either. For now, until I get a proper kitchen, I’m bettering my body with (somewhat) healthy foods, helping the environment, and saving a few animals along the way.

Walking around East Halls lately, some may have noticed a multitude of bright and colorful advertisements plastered on the walls throughout the commons. They concern the issue of global warming, climate change, and pollution. Some of these signs read “save our oceans” or “conserve water” or “It’s our choice.” Interestingly enough, 75 percent of Americans would consider themselves to be environmentalists, as these ads portray, and they would agree that there’s a huge epidemic which we and the rest of the world, are currently confronting. However, most people don’t even know how to counteract climate change, let alone what caused it. Yes, we’ve all heard it before- take shorter showers, ride your bike to work/school, use a reusable water bottle- the list goes on and on. However, wouldn’t it be convenient if there was one simple cure for the epidemic? In fact, there is.

Yes you guessed it, the one simple cure is this: it’s to stop consuming animal products. Meat production contributes to…

The leveling of 80% of Amazonian rain forest
The wasting of 15 trillion gallons of water per year
Producing 130 times as much waste (poop) as that of the entire U.S. population
51 percent of all greenhouse gases in our atmosphere
If just one person goes vegan for one day that person is able to save about

3,000 gallons of water
Think about the amount of water it takes to grow the crops to feed the animal in addition to providing water for the animals to drink.
You can take regular showers within the time period of 6 months with that much water!
16 pounds of grain
We put far more energy into animals per unit of food than we do for any plant crop. The reason is that cattle consume 16 times as much grain as they produce meat.
To me, the facts are simply mind blowing. However, the point here is not to throw random facts at you. Instead, its interesting to discuss why we haven’t been told this. Is the government and environmental groups including Greenpeace, Sierra Club, Surfrider Foundation, and Rainforest Action Network trying to hide the facts from us?

The answers lie in one of my favorite documentaries, Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret. It shows the journey of filmmaker Kip Andersen as he discovers, uncovers, and documents how huge environmental groups are shying away from the question “Well, what about animal agriculture?” Interestingly enough, when he does approach representatives from leaders of the environmentalist movement, they “don’t feel comfortable answering” the question, or blame it on “cow poop,’ which is correct, but not a sufficient answer.

To them, the main concern is oil production and consumption, along with fracking being the latest hot topic. They do not want to address the “animal agriculture” issue, because at the end of the day, they are companies. And no company wants to stop making money, despite what they do or sell. They essentially tell us that we don’t need to change our lifestyles, but from time to time, its necessary. According to Cowspiracy, these companies are really good at creating the idea of the “victim and perpetrator” situation. How could these organizations not know? The issue is right in front of them, unmistakably.

About 75 percent of Americans consider themselves to be environmentalists. However, only 3.2 percent of Americans are vegetarian or vegan. Nobody want to hear it, nobody wants to change what they’ve been happily doing for their entire lives. Change is uncomfortable and scary. However, we as a planet have come to a tipping point where we have to be cognizant and we have to realize we have to take action.

The environmental reasons for becoming vegan were no where near my reasoning. Now that I have been fully educated, not only by this documentary, but from other highly renowned vegan organizations and representatives, the only way I can live this life sustainabily and ethically on this planet with 7 billion other people is to fulfill the vegan lifestyle.